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> We have sensitive telescopes. If there was life out there, we would have noticed. I'm sorry, but that's way off. Our current telescopes can't even see the m
by rybosome 11y ago
> We have sensitive telescopes. If there was life out there, we would have noticed.
I'm sorry, but that's way off.
Our current telescopes can't even see the majority of the exoplanets in our galaxy; we are made aware of their existence by observing the behavior of their host star (wobbling/dimming). Unless something is extremely close, unfathomably enormous, or emitting/reflecting large amounts of electromagnetic radiation (light, radio, etc.) that isn't bent/filtered/reduced to noise, then we are completely unaware of it.
- maaku 11y agoThey can see stars. There wouldn't be stars in a type 2 civilization. There would be amorphous blackbody spectra which we do not see.
- rybosome 11y agoThat assumes that civilizations derive power by encasing their host star in a Dyson sphere, which is not a foregone conclusion; that prediction was based on our current understanding if technology. Think of Huygens who imagined that Venusians sailed the seas on ships held together with hempen rope.
- vectorjohn 11y agoAn "amorphous blackbody" source, from anything reasonably distant, just looks like a smaller star. There are a bunch of if's and unknowns involved, but it could be maybe possible to detect a Dyson sphere. This[1] article talks about it. The upshot is that it is nowhere near blindingly obvious, and we don't currently have the ability to differentiate between a natural or artificial infrared source. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere#Search_for_extra-terrestrial_intelligence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere#Search_for_extra-...